Photo: StockKristina Kika Đukić, a twenty-one-year-old YouTuber from Belgrade, died on Thursday. Her name meant nothing to many until yesterday, until it was known that she comes from the YouTube scene and that children and teenagers know very well who she is.
Cause of death: suicide, although there is a more accurate wording - Kika Đukić died of suicide. Suicide is the fatal outcome of a disease, depression. There was a discussion on social networks about whether it is right to say that someone died after a long and serious illness, if the truth behind that phrase is that he suffered from depression and ended his life by suicide.
If we make a comparison with oncological diseases, we will see that there are no obstacles: depression and cancer are similar - some survive them, some do not.
The death of Kika Đukić, however, opened some more questions, it opened a Pandora's box from which a lot of bad things came out. Kika Đukić, it's no secret, was exposed to violence in the internet space, hateful comments, misogyny, sexism, which didn't stop even on the day she passed away.
The media rushed to announce that as the reason for her death. It is not the job of the media to speculate about the reasons for suicide. The job of the media is to be a space for open discussion about the mental health of young people, violence on the Internet, to inform where and how to seek help.
The job of the media is not to listen to the statements of Kristina's friends, associates, mother... The Code of Journalists of Serbia explicitly states: "A journalist must never abuse other people's emotions, their ignorance or lack of judgment."
The media shouldn't even call the doctors that Kristina Đukić went to, so they did it anyway. Here we have a double penalty: basic ethical norms were violated by both the media and the doctor.
And yet, two well-read media published the statement of "Kiki's doctor", which medical ethics did not prevent her from making that statement. In addition, these two media misled the readers: it is about a doctor who practices aesthetic medicine, and that is not in the headlines or in the texts. The intention is clear: readers should be made to think how psychiatrist the deceased girl reveals why the suicide occurred.
The topic that caused the biggest storm in the public is the relationship between Kristina Đukić and the most followed Serbian YouTuber Bogdan Ilić, known as Baka Prase. In 2019, out of the blue, he entered into an open conflict with Kika, recorded a song in which he mocks her, recorded loads and loads of videos in which he invites his followers to insult her.
They fulfilled his wish and did not leave her alone even on the day when it was announced that she had died. There are insults addressed to the dead Christina saved on the networks. There are those who are ready to insult even a dead girl. The horror does not end there: those who insulted Kika Đukić, both alive and dead, are in the vast majority children, children in every sense, who are between 10 and 14 years old.
"Grandma Pig is to blame for Kika killing herself", is just one of yesterday's headlines. The public was furious and affected by the death of the young woman, and the media immediately pointed the finger at the "culprit".
Yes, cyberbullying pushes young people into depression and suicide. That has been proven a long time ago. But if we lightly declare one person guilty, even if that person is, and Bogdan Ilić was the perpetrator in this case, what happens? We will create new cyberbullies from calm people, and the bully becomes the victim of a new round of cyberbullying. And so ad infinitum.
The domestic internet scene is terribly cruel and merciless. When we look at similar experiences of larger countries, it can also be said that here it was only a question of who will die from suicide and when, and not if they will. It is important to ask the question where were the laws, institutions, parents of children who follow the YouTube scene, because everyone knows what is happening and everyone is waving their hand.
Where were the media, except for that one moment when the conflict between Granny Piglet and Kika culminated, so a national television station brought them into the studio to boost their ratings?
And no, you won't clear your conscience if you post the numbers of SOS numbers for suicide prevention with the most horrible text possible.
If you or someone you know is feeling unwell, seek help on one of these telephone numbers: 0800 309309 (National SOS telephone number, available 24 hours a day); 0800 001002 (Movement Nesolamivi, available 24 hours a day); 0800 300303 (Heart Center, from 14 to 23 p.m.)
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